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http://www.andrealobel.com/blog Blogging the scholarly study of astronomy and religion Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:14:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Solar and lunar eclipses have captured both the popular and religious imagination through the millennia. Eclipse records -- and myths inspired by eclipses -- date back to the earliest historical epochs. These include a multitude of cuneiform tablet eclipse calculations from Mesopotamia, where total solar eclipses served not merely as ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=237 This upcoming conference on Astronomy and Civilisation is part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy series of events. It will be held August 10th-13th in Budapest, Hungary. The conference has as its goal the exploration of the connections that exist between the natural sciences, astronomy, and civilization -- interdisciplinarity ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=229 Nothing like a bit of relatively minor surgery to force one to take some time off. Happily, I'm just fine, and have had some time to discover -- or, in some cases, to rediscover -- a number of readings, about which I look forward to posting here. In the interim, while ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=219 This is my personal confession: I smell like charred bonfire. But I do have a good reason. On Wednesday, I woke up early to make it to a local Birkat Ha-Hammah ceremony. It was cloudy and rather cold out, so I wasn't sure that it was going to be possible to ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=208 Several months ago, I posted about an upcoming rare event in Judaism -- that is, the blessing of the sun, or Birkat Ha-Hammah, that takes place once every twenty-eight years, and is based primarily on the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Brakhot 59b. The event takes place this year on April 8th, in ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=198 For those who are in, or close to, Gloucestershire, England, you may be interested in a lecture on archaeoastronomy to be given at the Corinium Museum by Professor Clive Ruggles on Thursday, March 26th, from 7-8:30 p.m. Dr. Ruggles is an Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester. Among ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=192 [caption id="attachment_189" align="alignnone" width="303" caption="'Census Hopeful', by Camilla Kesterton"][/caption] On a note related to my posting of March 3rd, here is a recent article on the BBC News site related to one of the Big Questions that touches upon the realms of theology, cosmogony, and astronomy. Among the respondents is Brother ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=181 Just a quick peek behind the workings of this blog. I'm currently spending much of my time reading materials in preparation for my comprehensive exams. (a.k.a. qualifying exams) For now, as has been the case for a few months, until these exams are completed, I only have a limited amount ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=162 Both our conception of the universe and the views of the Roman Catholic church have, of course, changed immensely since the time of Copernicus. The Church has, in fact, come to take special interest in happenings astronomical. In this article, published by the University of Arizona News, we read of ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=149 [caption id="attachment_146" align="alignnone" width="218" caption="14th c. Islamic astrolabe, Whipple Museum"][/caption] This video item from ABC (Australia), complete with transcript, features Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the first Muslim astronaut to travel into space during Ramadan. This led to the need for Muslim scholars to carefully determine the rules that would apply to ... http://www.andrealobel.com/blog/?p=144